She hurried to the driver’s side. The wheels spun a little from the mud as she punched the gas, but it was nothing to the all-terrain monster. The vehicle rocked over the thick underbrush and brutal rocks as she cut off-road. My head knocked into the steel repeatedly with every bump. I held on and tried to guess where I was going and what was waiting for me. I didn’t try to come up with an escape plan. I had no intention of escaping. It was clear what I had to do. I had to deal with this whole ordeal now and stop the chasing, stop the fear. As I traveled to the unknown, I went back to wondering if everyone else was okay, or what had happened to them. Would I see them again? Would my sacrifice mean anything?
After long minutes of nothing but fear for company, my captor slammed on her brakes, throwing me forward. I cursed and crawled to my knees again to look out. We had arrived at a small concrete structure surrounded by thick pine trees. The structure was almost completely covered by dead vines and dark mold, but it was impressive in the fear it instilled in me.
Cassandra came around the SUV and unlocked my cage. Without giving me time to get out, she grabbed me in a harsh grip, her nails digging into my arm, and pushed me toward the only entrance, a rusted metal door. Stumbling over unseen roots and dead leaves, I walked to the door, resisting the urge to turn and say something sarcastic. I was pretty sure it would only get me killed…faster. I put my hand on the rusty handle and pulled, controlling my trembling with effort. It was raining harder now, the full brunt of Margaret’s fury unleashed to the world. I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of me, but the entrance to the structure was even darker, a black hole in the night. As I stepped past the metal door, I felt that the earth was swallowing me.
Cassandra pointed at a barely perceptible set of stairs that spiraled downward. “Be careful,” she said. “We wouldn’t want you to snap your pretty little neck.”
She shut the door in my face with a hard slam. I listened for a moment and heard her pacing in front of the door. I sighed in relief. She wouldn’t have to guard the door if she had killed the others. But, if she stayed out there, who was I supposed to see? The brown-haired Seeker? That didn’t feel right. From the meeting I had overheard, Cassandra was in control. She had seniority. She had the power, and more importantly, she somehow had absolute control over the Nightstalkers. Had someone else been pulling the strings?
I hugged my arms to my chest as I thought about it. Not only was it darker than night in this place, but it was colder. I couldn’t tell if it was a natural result of the structure being exposed to the elements or if it had air conditioning, but it had the dramatic effect of being extremely unnerving. I imagined it was what a crypt felt like. I hoped I would never find out if I was right.
Pushing aside my fear, I stepped towards the stairway. There was no turning back – Cassandra would just force me to do what she wanted. I didn’t turn back for another reason. Part of me, the part that knew Daniel, knew he was here. I could feel him. The same beating in my chest I had felt for Susan was intensified by a thousand. It was so intense I actually shook. He was here and he was alive.
At the bottom stair, I paused in surprise. Far from being a dim cave or a gloomy morgue, the room was elegant and classic. A chandelier hung from the ceiling and rich, lavish carpets decorated every square inch of the floor. Large tapestries hung from walls, which stretched back a lot further than what the upstairs had led me to believe. And, standing in the middle of this opulent room, playing with an old fashioned, evil-looking, sword was someone I hadn’t been expecting.
Chapter 19
It was Sheriff Cobb.
I stared at him trying to understand how he fit into the puzzle. He stared back, his intelligent eyes crinkling with fatherly laughter. I hovered near the stairs, my arms hugging my body.
“Hello, Clare.” I didn’t reply. “You don’t understand what’s happening here, do you?” he asked in his thick southern drawl.
“No.”
The sword in his hands was covered in strange etchings and gleamed with silver malice as he twirled it. He walked towards a small table piled with delicious looking food, the sword adding gravity to his steps. “Would you like something to eat? An apple or an orange? A date perhaps?”
I shook my head reminded of the story of Persephone. She had been trapped in hell by eating food offered to her by Hades. I wasn’t about to go there.
Cobb placed the sword on the table and sat. Picking up a piece of fruit, he regarded it for a moment before he popped it into his thin, lined mouth. “At least come and join me. An old man hates to eat alone, especially when he has a pretty girl so near to talk to.”
“I think I’ll stand,” I said with rebellion in my voice.
“My, my, what a mouth! He told me you were stubborn. He told me quite a lot about you.”
“He?” I asked.
“Yes, my dear, recently departed, cousin has been observing you for a while now.”
He ripped apart a plum, his hawk-like hands tearing into the fruit easily. Frustrated at not understanding what he was saying, I concentrated. His thoughts were blocked. He was the first person beyond Daniel and his family who could block me. I wondered how he did it, remembering that Amanda’s father had the same talent.
Stymied I asked, “Your cousin?”
“Yes. A redneck if there ever was one.”
Cobb shook his head and smiled paternally at my confused expression. He snapped his fingers, and the dark-headed Seeker stepped out of the shadows. I jumped, not having noticed him standing there. My body tense, I waited for him to attack me, figuring this was the reason I had been sent down here. He didn’t. Instead, the Seeker threw something to the floor. It rolled and bounced in my direction. I took a step closer, fixated, unable to look away. I wanted to understand the oddness of the shape, why they were so intent I see the shape. Blank eyes stared up at me. I gagged when my brain registered what my eyes were seeing. It was a severed human head. Was that who I thought it was?
“Yes, that’s my cousin.” Cobb’s eyes searched my face, looking for fear. “Gavin Nichols. He got in our way today. Spewing some sentimental nonsense about how we couldn’t use Amanda. That we had to leave her alone. That our plan was flawed. You do know Amanda, right?”
I looked away from the head. Cobb was trying to scare me, unbalance me for whatever he had planned next. I wouldn’t let him do it. He had used Amanda’s circumstances, her suicide attempt, to draw me out and distract the others. Could he have planned that? Had they killed Mr. Nichols, because he had been trying to save his daughter after all? I almost looked back at the head, wondering if his love had gotten him killed, but I focused on Cobb instead.
“Everything turned out for the best, though,” he said in that grandpa voice. He regarded me for a moment, and picked up another piece of fruit. “You have no idea how much work it took to get you here, my dear.” He shook his head with a smile. “Your grandfather is a stubborn, prideful man. He came so close to ruining everything.” What could my grandfather have to do with any of this? He saw the question on my face. “Yes. I knew Roger Michaels. We were very close…knew each other since childhood. I was there when he got married. I was there when his daughter was born. When Ellen ran away and he was heartbroken, I was there. When he knew the cancer was terminal and he only had months to live, I was there. Why not convince him to change the will and give his daughter everything? Why not let his final act be an act of reconciliation? He was eager to agree. You see, he regretted not talking to your mother for all those years. He only did so because of your grandmother – another prideful soul. He was never the same; broken you might say.” He gestured at the Seeker. “My friends were pleased when I told them I had a way of drawing you out. All I had to do was play on your mother’s emotions, her desire to make amends for some of the hurt she’d caused her parents. It was actually quite easy. If those others,” his thin lips hardened, “hadn’t interfered, we would have had you within days of you moving here. But what’s a slight delay in the grand s
cheme of things, eh?”
At least, I now understood why we had the house. At least, I knew my grandfather regretted something. If I got out of here alive, I would have to tell Ellen.
I found my sarcasm, unwilling to let him unnerve me, particularly when I felt so exposed. “What a horrible cliché,” I said. “It’s never a good idea to tell your whole plan to your victim, Cobb. It’s tacky, very tacky.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Go ahead and tell me what I’m doing here,” I said. “I know you’re just dying to.”
The Seeker started laughing at my tone. His black eyes bored into my grey ones with grim delight. There was no pity there. Just a barely tempered rage.
Cobb laughed as well. “Marcus was right about her. She’s pretty strong willed, isn’t she?” He stood. “It will make this more difficult.”
The Seeker shrugged indifferently. “They’re all breakable….so very breakable. Can we get on with this?” He sounded bored. I wondered how many deaths he had seen, how many deaths he had been responsible for. I hoped to never be that callous. If I lived through tonight…
“Yes, Thomas, we will. Just a moment more.”
Cobb walked over to me. I met his eyes in hate and fear. His brown eyes held a burning purpose. It went beyond intelligence or thought. It was obsession. Could I use it against him? I frowned and tried to break through his mental shield, but it was like a fortress.
“What’s going to happen next can happen willingly, or by force. I prefer willingly. It will be better for both of us,” Cobb said.
“Spit it out,” I said through clenched teeth. I didn’t like to be threatened.
“Your blood, my dear. Give me your blood willingly.”
He stepped closer. I smelled the typical person smells but also something else. Something foreign. Desperation? Could a person smell of desperation?
“You and I are going to be a grand experiment. If we are right, if Marcus is right, then it will be a new beginning. Together, we will be Adam and Eve. A new dawn for man and angel.”
My stomach dropped. He was crazy. He had super humans doing his bidding, and he was crazy. I didn’t know what he meant, but none of it sounded good. I didn’t want a new dawn or a new beginning, and I definitely didn’t want him to be my Adam. Gross.
“Over my dead body,” I spat.
At my words the Seeker, Thomas, started forward. “With pleasure.”
Cobb put a hand out. “We will do it the other way first. Remember, she has to agree to it.”
“Whatever. But after?”
“She’s not to be touched if it works.”
“What about the other one?”
“You can have him.” Cobb’s cold eyes met mine. “In fact, why don’t you call him in here?”
Thomas grinned, his boredom fading. In a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Bring him in.” It sounded deafening to my ears.
A large metal door banged against the opposite wall and a dog-like figure appeared. I took a shallow breath, terrified at having a Nightstalker so near. It surged across the room in restless movement. I looked beyond its evil appearance trying to understand the movement. Why it was so agitated? I focused again and realized it was fighting with something, rolling it in its massive paws. The creature snapped at the form and growled with a deafening sound that filled the large room. A second Nightstalker barged through the door to help control the smaller creature, which was obviously much stronger than its size suggested. I tried to recognize what they were fighting with. It was difficult around the movement. I finally recognized what I was seeing.
I gasped. I hadn’t thought anything could hurt him. I had thought him steel and metal, untouchable by evil. I was wrong. The first creature reached out and slammed Daniel to the ground with a paw into his stomach. The sound of crunching bone danced across the space. Another swipe along his arm tore into his shirt. I cried out in pain as I watched Daniel’s blood, which was surprisingly silver, spill onto the expensive carpet.
Daniel stopped struggling when he heard my gasp, giving the second demon time to pin him down. He strained his neck to look at me, his eyes widening with fear. I tried to tell him not to give up fighting, but he was frozen with shock. The Nightstalker on top of him grunted happily, and its lips curled back in satisfaction over gleaming white teeth.
I took a step forward to help Daniel, to do anything, but Cobb stopped me with a hand on my arm. “You can do what I ask, and your friend dies peacefully, or you can refuse, and we make it more painful.”
Thomas walked over to Daniel and bent down. He reached out and grabbed Daniel’s hand. Daniel struggled with Thomas, but the Nightstalker on his chest pressed harder. I saw pain ignite the coolness of his green eyes. Daniel kept his hand shut and focused his eyes on me. Adrenaline and fear surged through my veins in response. I could shove Cobb off, but that wouldn’t stop the demons on top of Daniel. They would kill him before I could do anything – not that I could do much.
Thomas peeled back Daniel’s fingers and looked over at me playfully. He jerked one finger backward and the bone snapped. Daniel shut his eyes, mutely refusing to cry out. I realized what they were doing. Watchers still felt pain even though they healed from most wounds. Daniel could still feel pain. They would make him hurt, torture him, until they got what they were after. Until they got my blood.
My blood pressure rose as Daniel reopened his eyes. His eyes pleaded with me to run. He told me to leave him and get out. The look tore at my heart. I couldn’t give in and let him die, but I couldn’t run either. I wouldn’t leave him to this.
“Choose Clare,” the old man said.
Another pop of bone.
“Choose. It’s just a drop of blood.”
Another and another. Snap! Snap! I jumped with each pop.
Cobb’s sleepy drawl turned the blood in my veins to ice. “Choose…”
I focused on Daniel, absorbing his strong features. I ignored the way his hand was becoming unrecognizable and focused on the good things. I etched the perfect lines of his face into my brain. Was I saying goodbye? Was I trying to remember his features for later? Were we both about to die?
I had told him only last night that I would prefer to die fighting for a cause, fighting for the person I loved. If we were going to die, I would make sure I hurt someone first. I wouldn’t just go peacefully into the night. I would take someone with me.
My necklace started glowing. Cobb released my arm and jumped back as the light intensified. My anger crept towards the boiling point. I saw red. No…I saw white.
Power surged into my body. I suddenly felt stronger than I ever had. My body started to shake from the power. I knew I had to act to dispel the energy, before I exploded. Looking to my right, I saw Cobb. I didn’t understand what his part was in all this, but the others listened to him. He was a threat. I reached out and took hold of his throat, easily raising him off the ground. “Release, Daniel.”
“Gahhh!” he choked.
I looked over at Thomas. “Release him.”
My eyes trained on Thomas, I waited to see if he would do what I commanded. He didn’t move, frozen with surprise. A second that felt like eons, passed. Cobb kept struggling, but his struggles barely registered against my newfound strength.
The first Nightstalker snarled at me, foamy drool falling from its mouth onto Daniel. It burned away his shirt and scorched his skin. My jaw tightened in response. I shifted my focus as the second Nightstalker crept towards me, taking careful steps as it maneuvered.
“Stop,” I commanded. The Nightstalker kept moving, ignoring me. “Stop,” I repeated.
This time I held my free hand up, palm out. The demon snarled in response. Feeling I had given ample warning, I released the energy I had been restraining. Fire poured from my hand. It boiled out and completely engulfed the Nightstalker. My surprise at the act wasn’t enough to stop the fire. It lashed against the creature, tearing into its scaly flesh.
The demon thrashed madly a
round the space, running into furniture, its pain a harsh lament as it searched for a way to extinguish the fire. Its death throes brought it too close. Running blindly, it barreled directly at me. With only seconds to react, I threw Cobb away and jumped to my left and rolled. It ran over Cobb, crashed into a table, and collapsed. I found my feet again. Ignoring the dying demon and Cobb, I took another step towards Thomas. Towards Daniel.
“Release him,” I said.
Thomas finally dropped Daniel’s hand and rose, his feet sliding into a defensive stance. He had finally caught up to the situation. I sensed him assessing me, looking for a weakness. I was doing the same, my brain working three steps ahead. He started edging to his right, away from Daniel and the other creature. I followed him with my eyes, keeping both him and the last Nightstalker within view. Daniel struggled feebly against the Nightstalker, but didn’t rise. He had been beaten worse than I’d imagined. How much pain could he take?
Satisfied that he had me where he wanted me – between Satan’s spawn and Satan – Thomas stopped moving. I counted the seconds before he would attack me.
He started forward, his hand reaching for me, but stopped again just as quickly. His eyes widened as he stared past me to where the burning demon had stopped crashing into things. The smell of burnt, dead flesh was overwhelming, but Thomas wasn’t looking at the dead Nightstalker. He was looking at something much more frightening.
A deep, rumbling growl pierced my ears. I didn’t have to turn to know it was another Nightstalker. They had kept one in reserve. I was surrounded. The Nightstalker on top of Daniel responded with its own hair-raising growl. What now?
Without warning, the Nightstalker at the foot of the stairs launched itself across the room. But it wasn’t aiming for me or for Daniel. It was aiming for the demon on top of Daniel. It crashed into the Nightstalker pinning Daniel with the sound of two freight trains crashing in to one another. They rolled away from Daniel, fighting tooth and claw, gouging huge chunks of reptilian flesh from each other as they rolled across the floor. As odd as it was, I had an ally in the Nightstalker.
The Watchers Page 28